Art is Cooking at Connect4Climate Contest

Lisa Greber | December 08, 2011

Climate change can be challenging to picture. Connect4Climate (C4C) invited youth (ages 13-35) throughout Africa to submit photos and videos of the effects of climate change on themselves and their communities. As a member of the C4C global initiative, Assistant Professor of Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences Anamarija Frankić represented the University of Massachusetts Boston and participated in the youth award ceremony for the C4C contest winners at the Africa Pavilion December 5.

Contest entries were in six categories: water, forests, agriculture, gender, health, and energy. Overall contest winners were Dina Osman from Durban for a photo of pastel roofs covered in “Solar Panels: The Sunny Energy,” and Dickson Oyuki of Kenya for a rap video celebrating bicycle transport titled “Me and My Bike."

The energy category featured images of solar panels, new cooking stoves, and a car abandoned as its owner returned to riding his horse. Frankić is pictured with Alphonse Karenzi, of Rwanda, the second place winner in the 18-24 category for his photo "Improved Cooking."

“This stove is easily made from local materials,” says Alphonse. “It surely saves up to 75% of firewood compared to traditional stoves and reduces smoke emission significantly.”

The stoves are part of a one-year program on Improved Cooking Stoves Campaign Against Deforestation (ICOSCAD). The program is active in the Gisagara district of Rwanda, which is facing issues related to deforestation such as delayed rainfall, soil erosion, and high winds due to the high consumption of firewood in traditional cooking stoves.

"These stoves, solar panels, and other images can be part of the youth message to world leaders on how to live sustainably," Frankić says. "Some of the answers are simple and easily available. There is enough on this earth to support every human life," she adds, quoting Gandhi, "but not human greed."

(Based on reports from Durban from GBH Director Anamarija Frankić)

Tags:

Comments (1)

Posted by Alphonse KARENZI | December 12, 2011 - 10:31 a.m.

As the winner, I’m very happy for this! I never thought that my local innovation and activism could be recognized at the global level. I really appreciated Anamarija’s input during C4C side events in Durban.